Page 35 of Game Changer

Chapter14

Buckie

The Langham hotel lobby is grand, and I find Shelly sitting waiting for me in one of the wingback chairs.

“Hey Shelly. How are you?”

“Ah Buckie, I’m good,” she says smiling and standing to pull me into a hug. “Well, I see you’ve been keeping a low profile since you went to Glasgow.” She raises an eyebrow at me.

“Yup. That’s me. You should know me better by now.”

“I’ll likely regret asking this, but how?”

“It’s my girlfriend’s bar and—”

“Hold on a second,” Shelly interrupts, holding up her hand to stop me. “Your girlfriend? When I left you last in L.A. you were a single pringle. You don’t half work fast.”

“Fuck. Shelly please don’t say anything to anyone. I shouldn’t have said anything about her to you.”

“I get it. You don’t want to ruin a good thing by having her thrown into the spotlight.”

“Exactly.”

I’m startled when she smacks the side of my head. “Should have thought about that before you went full Tom Cruise. Am I to expect a declaration of love on Oprah’s sofa too? You twit.”

I rub my head where she slapped me. “Alright I know. I thought I was helping. She’s not too fussed right enough. She thinks it’ll be great for her business. I agree. And if it works out for her then I’ll be happy to do it again.”

“God I can’t wait to take some time off. I’m going to end up having a nervous breakdown with your shenanigans. You know this was a bit of bad timing too, especially with all these interviews. They’re going to ask you about it. Some of them will allow us to see their questions before they ask them. But even then, they could go rogue and ask what the hell they want. You know it’s happened before. Where in the hell is Annalise?” Shelly tuts and checks her watch. “If she doesn’t turn up, you’ll need to go it alone. She’s an absolute pain in the arse. Bloody spoiled brat.”

“Don’t hold back Shelly.”

“You should hear some of the demands she’s had thrown at me by her PR people. She wants to sit on the side closest to the camera and a tiny bit in front of you so that she can be seen fully. You should not talk over her, and if a question is asked of both of you, she has to answer it. There were more but I zoned out at one point and missed most of them.”

“I hope you told them to —”

“Fuck off? Yup. I said you’re a bigger star than her and it will be up to the interviewers crew where you both sit. And if you want to answer questions you will. But I did say that you don’t interrupt people because you’re not rude, unlike some. Shaun, her PA, hates me. I don’t care. I’m done pandering to that little diva.”

No sooner has Shelly spoken the word, than the little diva herself strolls into the lobby, entourage in tow. She looks all around to make sure everyone notices her.

Shelly rolls her eyes. “Oh here comes the fucking circus.”

“Be nice.”

“Always,” she says through gritted teeth as she greets Annalise’s PR team of three. Why she needs them all is beyond me but nothing this woman does makes sense to me. She loves the limelight — I only want to act.

“Owen, dahling,” Annalise croons in her southern American accent as she gets close to us. She lifts her huge dark shades and pushes them up into her long blonde hair.

I stand to greet her, and she air kisses both my cheeks. “Hi Annalise. Nice to see you again.”

“Mmm, and you Owen,” she says softly, running her hand down my chest.

I step back out of her touch. It’s a little too close for comfort. Anything we’ve done in a movie is acting, and I don’t appreciate her touching me now that’s over.

“Mr Buchanan, Miss Shears,” a young man in a sharp suit says as he appears from behind me. “I’m Steve and I’ll be setting you up for your interview. Do you have any questions for me?”

I shake my head, knowing he will have everything down to a tee. I want to get the interview done and the PR meeting over with as soon as possible. Anything to get that much closer to seeing Zara, but Annalise has other ideas.

“Um yes, I need to know if the lighting is right. I asked for yellow tones, no white or blue tones. It washes my skin out and I have to look right for TV.”

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